AI-supported sorting system for textile recycling – ‘SprayCloth – Sorting System’ research project launched

By precisely recognising and separating textiles according to their material composition, the ‘SprayCloth’ innovation network aims to achieve a sustainable circular economy with a new sorting system. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) is funding the joint project at Kempten University of Applied Sciences for three years with a sum of 220,000 euros.

Kempten/Germany, January 22, 2025 Robust leather, tear-resistant and breathable synthetic fibres, foam padding, protectors and applications – items of clothing, such as motorbike jackets, consist of many different materials and components. This makes it difficult to recycle valuable resources for a sustainable circular economy. The aim of the ‘SpayCloth – Sorting System’ project, which is part of the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM) funding programme, is to ensure that textiles are separated efficiently and according to type into a wide variety of materials. To this end, a state-of-the-art system is being developed that combines fully automatic optical recognition and mechanical separation using an innovative process.

‘The central innovation is an artificial intelligence that analyses and classifies textiles based on visual characteristics such as structure, surface and colour,’ explains Professor Bernd Lüdemann-Ravit from the Institute of Production and Information Technology (IPI). An integrated camera system also makes it possible to precisely recognise the position and shape of the individual textile components, thereby significantly increasing sorting accuracy. The developed system brings significant advantages for the textile industry: it enables optimised reusability of textile raw materials and reduces the amount of waste through this recycling.

In addition to the IPI – Institute for Production and Information Technology at Kempten University of Applied Sciences, the research consortium includes the special machine manufacturer Hörber & Hetzner GmbH, elnic in Dresden GmbH and Velomat Messelektronik GmbH. There is also close cooperation with the motorbike and protective workwear manufacturer Held GmbH from Burgberg in the Allgäu region.

Translated with DeepL_com

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